Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1887-12-25
A RIDING LESSON.
The Way You Feel on II Horse When You
Are IneKperlenced-No Question How
the Horse Feels.

the Horse Feels.
r.. h. ". in Puct.
Ifvou never feel like a corked bottle be-
ing tossed about on a windy sea, at any
other time, you do when you make your
debut on ohe spinal column of a horse.
You can scarcely realize what the saddle
is for, because you sit all over the horse
and if 1t is proper to be in the saddle,
when You are not on the ground, you fee
that either the saddle should be six times
as large or the horse should he supplied
with six saddles. No matter if the saddle
is strapped on so tight that it makes the
horses eyes bulge cut and look like paint
ed nest it always feels as loose rs an
old shoe, or the money that you can't tie
up.
You feel that in o second you will be
away down OF one side OF the horse,
hanging on to his vertebrate with yOui
heels, aud you naturally bear your
weight in the stirrup5 10 keep your bal
anCe.
You are afraid Of being laughed at by
your instructor, or you would order some
billets of wood TO be hammered between
the horse and the girth, inst "a bOyf put
wood under their straps TO keep their
skates on firmly.
You are assured that if the girth were
frightened, the horse would collapse with
cramps; so you say no more on the subject.
You know in your heart that the saddle Is
not going to slip, but at the same time
you can't help imagining that it is.
So you 10 on webbing and bObbing
from side to side, feeling as though you
would like to put your arms about the
horses neck for safety. AS soon as you
stand firmly in the stirrups you forget &c
press your knees against the saddle: and
when you prees your knees against the
saddle, your feet fly ont of the stirrups,
and you feel as awkward as the boy trying
to ride the trick mule three times around
the circus ring.
You will drop into it before you know
it." says the teacher.
This is very soothing, because up to thi:
time you think you will drop off before
you know it.
The teacher tells you he never had
pupil drop off once in all his experience,
aud then shows you a collection of scar
under his hair that branch out in every
direction. If he should lose his hair tn,
observer would naturally think that be
had come in contact with a skating pond
and the spider had been made on his heaC
instead of the ice.
Then he tells you how the stone wal
felt when he struck it on the fly. Bat
SAYS nothing about how he felt himself.
The great trouble is that you have abou'
eight or ten Thugs to remember at once
while your whole attention is exhausted IL
trying to keep off the tau-bark. Ii yOr
remember To sit back when the hOrS'
comes to q stop, you forget to keep you
hands down. You think you can balance
yourself better by spreading yOur arm;
out like wings. Then if you remember
about your hands you forgot to turn you.
toes in-you feel as though you we're goin!
to turn them up every minute, to borrow
an Occidental figure.
And then your feet work through tn,
stirrups to the heels, and you can't &c
them out.
The horse then gives a lurch, and ava.
20 your straps; and in about two minute
the bottoms OF your trousers are up abou
your knees, and other riders can't under
stand why you are riding in knickerbOck
eTs.
Just as you are doing your best to rise
in response to your teachers "one-two
one-two, one-two.' the horse gets yol
against the fence, and, in proceeding ST!
feet in this way, takes about SIX inches o
skin off you. But this makes nc differ
ence if yen are riding to reduce your flesh
You assure your teacher that you neve
had so much fun in all your life At tn
same time you take a sly look at the clocl
to see how soon your hour will be up. IoI
know the horses speed will beincressed a
the end of the lesson, TO show you how yo1
are improving. and get You into such
Iather that you will take cold when you @
out on the street. As much as you Xix
riding, you always feel a keener admiratio,
for it when you alight on the ground, an
rush to a p~ier-glass to see if You are intaC
and if your clothes fit you all right. Yo
have bobbed around like a water lily for a
hour, and now you want to get your Ian